As an eye care professional, you must be able to recognize, understand and adjust to trends and changes in technology to remain relevant to new and existing patients. In other words, you need to keep your practice modern. Modernizing your practice doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to make huge or expensive changes to your efforts. All you need to do is make simple updates to how you share info about technology or practice offerings.
Here are 5 easy ways to add useful technology to your practice:
Maintain a presence on social media.
We’ve mentioned this many times before, but it’s essential that you showcase your practice on at least one social media platform. Social media can humanize your brand and allow you to share everything from quick tips or info on eye care, to events your practice is taking part in and discounts you’re offering. If done right, you can create an amazing community of followers online. Facebook is generally the easiest and most appropriate platform for ophthalmic practices, but feel free to explore others to see how they fit your needs!
Add interactive features to your website.
An online appointment scheduler or request form will make it easier for people to set up an appointment with just a click of a button! Another item that’s easy to add to your website is an interactive mapping feature that pinpoints locations and directions for easy access to your practice. Accessibility features like these can help you remain competitive in the industry.
Engage with patients via email.
While you don’t want to spam your patients’ personal inbox, you can still use email to engage with patients to build brand loyalty and trust as well as foster new relationships. Creating an informative quarterly newsletter, expressing thanks after appointments or simply being available to answer questions are all ways you can use email to your advantage. Systems like MailChimp or Constant Contact make it easy to brand your emails and create simple, interactive designs.
Offer technology or entertainment to your waiting patients.
If you walk into any waiting room at a healthcare facility these days, you’ll see anxious people flipping through old magazines as they wait for their name to be called. Why not keep them engaged during this wait time by offering free Wi-Fi, tablets like an iPad, or a waiting room TV? Not only does the customer appreciate it, but it gives you the opportunity to get free advertising in front of your clients. Change the lock screen on the tablet to a current practice special, scroll messages for practice offerings on the TV, or have them log onto Wi-Fi through your website!
Consider setting up a secure text messaging system.
Along with an online appointment scheduler, a text messaging system is a great way to stay in sync with your patients. Not only are text messages a preferred method of receiving information for patients, but they can also reduce the amount of time your staff spends playing phone tag.
In the end, modernizing your practice is probably easier than you think. Although you might feel tempted to hold onto the same patient communication routine this year, these ideas are easy to implement without much work. Modernizing your practice is an excellent way to attract new patients, improve your relationship with your current patients, and all in all keep your practice remarkable in 2018.